Chapter 25 second quarter

Wang Anshi's method of raising horses can be summed up in one sentence, which is to change from the group state-owned large-scale breeding to scattered farmers' small-scale breeding. Encouraging private households to raise horses is not Wang Anshi's idea alone.As early as the Zhenzong period, when Cao Wei, the son of Cao Bin, knew Qinzhou, he tried out the method of raising horses by farmers to make up for the lack of official horse herding. Suggestions were put forward to abolish the horse herding prison and raise horses for the people.The reform of horse administration can be regarded as echoing the long-standing call for imperial reform.

No matter how much the old party hated the horse protection law in the future, there is an iron key data for the dismissal of the horse-breeding supervisor and the adoption of farmers' horse breeding-cost. According to official statistics in the eighth year of Xining (AD 1075), the cost for farmers to raise horses was 12.60 per horse. This figure is not only very different from Ye Qingchen’s proposal that the horse herding supervisor cost 500 yuan per horse, but also saves nearly half of the purchase price of 25 yuan offered by the brothers from the ethnic minorities in the Northwest.

As for the quality of the horses raised by the folk farmers, whether they can guarantee the cavalry of the empire to gallop on the battlefield, this is not the most important thing.Because the quality of the horses produced by the Mumajian is also low, and the survival rate of horses raised by farmers is definitely far better than that of state-owned horses (the life of horses is the life of farmers, and it is natural to be careful), and the money saved by raising horses in the private sector is enough for the empire The brothers of the ethnic minorities in the Northwest waved the money again to buy horses.

During the period of Shenzong’s new law, the empire increased the trading volume of horses with the brothers of the ethnic minorities in the northwest, and established the tea-horse trading system of exchanging tea for horses. , Min, Tongyuan Army, Ninghe Village, and Yongning Village to buy horses), and the amount of horses purchased in the northwest is maintained at about 20,000 horses each year (annual consumption of 20,000 packs of tea), which greatly supports the active military affairs of the empire. Activity. There is also a huge economic account that has not been counted, that is, the empire leased all the fertile land originally occupied by the state-owned horse herding supervisor to farmers. These vast fertile land became a new economic income for the empire. In one year, "the money for abolishing the prison rent has reached 1.16 million".

As for the inevitable disadvantages of the new law, such as the cruel officials at the lower level using this as a pretext to force and exploit horse farmers, they seem insignificant in the face of the huge economic accounts. The method of protecting horses basically achieved Wang Anshi's two basic goals of managing money and strengthening the army. After the death of Emperor Shenzong, the old party made a comeback and abolished the new law. The first was to abolish the horse protection law. If you don't stop every day, you will be harmed one day."The fate of the Baoma Law and other new laws can be imagined.

The empire began to set up horse-breeding prisons in Luoyang, Shanzhen, Yuanwu, Qishui, Dongping, Anyang and other places. After this tossing, the ills of the original nationalized horse-breeding prisons could only get worse. Afterwards, the entire empire repeated the new and old national policies, and Song Zhezong dismissed the establishment of various horse herding supervisors in the third year of Shaosheng (AD 1096), and implemented the law of giving land to herd horses.So many times, the final result is that both state-owned and private horse breeding are unreliable. After Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty Zhao Ji became emperor, various roads gave a piece of data on horse herding supervisors in various places, which turned out to be a pitiful 1,800 horses, of which Hebei West Road accounted for 1,400 horses, and the number of other roads was 1,000. It's very small, but a majestic Hedong Road, only nine horses.

In the Huizong era, the horsepower recovered to some extent, but the dispute between the old and the new was still fierce.In the fourth year of Daguan (1110 A.D.), the empire stopped giving the field horse herding law. It was restored in the second year of Zhenghe (1112 A.D.), and it was stopped again in the second year of Xuanhe (1120 A.D.). Most of the 10,000 horses were given to Tong Guan's Northwest Army, and the pastures were no longer leased to farmers. Most of them were converted into various high-end villas and resorts for the emperor and officials from all over the place to have fun.

When the Jin invaded, the entire wealthy empire really had no horses left.The Jin army approached Kaifeng, and the empire had all the horses inside and outside Beijing. In addition, the cavalry horses in Beijing were less than 20,000 horses. The horse will be wiped out again." Who is the real culprit in all this?